Bill-file



0. (LORD).

Bill File.

(-No Model.)

No. 241,388. Patented May 10, I881.

Ziflemw N PETERS, Photc-Ulhugnpher, Wasgingtun, D. Q

UNITED STATES PATENT error.

BILL-FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 241,388, dated May 10,1881.

Application filed March 11, 1881.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES W. LORD, acitizen of the United States, residing at New ton, in the county ofMiddlescx and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Bill-Files; and 1 do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to makeand. use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, andto the letters or figures of reference marked thereon,which form a partof this specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a convenient device forfiling bills, letters, receipts, and other documents,which shall be socheap that it can be filed away with the papers without appreciableloss. To this end 1 employ a combination of pasteboard guards and lacingtape, cord, or cords, constructed and arranged substantially ashereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings,Figure1represents a perspective rear viewof my improved file. Fig. 2 represents a perspective front view of thesame; and Fig. 3 represents a detail cross-section of one of the boardsor guards, showing a modified form of eyelet.

A designates the rear guard of my file,which consists of a rectangularpiece of a thin strip of wood,pasteboard, or other cheap material ofsimilar nature, and which is provided with eyelet-holes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8,arranged as follows: Holes 1 and 2 are in the upper part of the guard,in the same horizontal line, and at a little distance apart. Holes 3 and4: are arranged in a vertical line which would pass through the middleof said space,the upper hole, 3, being a little below the horizontalline passing through the holes first mentioned. Holes 5 and 6 arearranged in the lower part of the guard, similarly to 1 and 2, and holes7 and 8 correspond, in like manner, to the holes 3 and 4 of the upperpart of the guard. Each quartette of holes, 1 2 3 4 and 5 6 7 8,constitutes a set by itself for the passage of one of the lacin g-cordshereinafter mentioned.

, B designates the front guard of the file, which is like rear guard A,both in material and form. It has in its upper part two eyelet-holes, 9and 10, which are opposite holes 1 and 2 of said rear guard, and in itslower (No model.)

part holes 11 and 12, which are opposite holes 5 and 6 of said rearguard.

U designates the upper lacing-string, and D the lower lacing-string, ofthe file. The ends of said upper string are first passed backwardrespectively through holes 9 and 10 of said front guard; then forwardaround the side edges of said front guard and said rear guard; thenbackward respectively through holes 1 and 2; then forward togetherthrough hole 3; then backward together through hole 4,where they may betied. Lacing-string D has its ends,in like manner, passed respectivelyback through holes 11 and 12 of the front guard; thence around the edgesof both guards, back severally through holes 5 and (i, and then togetherthrough holes 7 and 8.

When documents are to be inserted within the file one or both of thelacing-strings may be loosened to allow the requisite expansion of thefile, and they are then drawn tight. The guards A and B then protect therear and front faces of the file of documents, and the lacingstrings G Dhold them in line, so that they retain, as a whole, the most convenientshape for pigeon-holiug or otherwise stowing away.

Of course the method of lacin g m ay be greatly changed. One of thestrings may be dispensed with, and the holes made (a single set sufiicing) in the middle of the guards; or all the holes can be retained, and alonger lacing-strip used, passing through every one of them. Perhaps thebest plan, however, is to use two strings, and carry their ends throughto the rear side of the rear guard, A, where they can be mostconveniently tied when filing away permanently. All the holes aresupplied with eyelets for purposes of protection but this is notabsolutely neccessary; nor am I confined to the particular arrangementof holes shown and described, nor to the particular construction ofeyelets.

As shown in Fig. 3, there may be no openings in the guards, but each mayhave instead of each eyelet a plate, E,fastened to it by claws e, or inany other convenient manner, this plate having two holes, E, throughwhich the cord passes. Various other forms of eyelet or equivalentdevices may be employed.

When the file is full it may be stowed away without loss. The boards,strings, and eyelets oost scarcely anything, and will take up verylittle room in any repository. Moreover, they make but a slight additionto the weight, and their edges cannot out anything. Ofeourse their shapemay be somewhat changed if desired, though I prefer the one shown.

It will be seen that the use of this sort of file will obviate thenecessity for removing and retying the papers, the slipping off oftapes, or else sacrificing something of considerably greater cost. Oneof these expedients wastes time, the other wastes money. My file savesboth.

It will be seen from the position of the cord or tape, as it passesthrough the eyelets or perforations of the guards, that it is more orless necessarily bound by the edges of said holes, and consequently,after the insertion of a bill or paper, all that is necessary for theclerk to do is to draw the tapes tightly, and the file clamps or holdsitself, so that the tiresome act of tying and untying the cords isentirely (lispensed with.

When the bills are to be put away perinanently then it may be well totie the guards together for greater security of the papers containedtherein.

Obviously there may be. many difl'crent arrangements in the position ofthe eyelets and the mode of lacing the guards together without departingfrom the spirit of my invention. One simple method consists in havingbut four eyelets in each guard, corresponding to 1, 2, 5, 6, and 9,10,11, and 12, the cords being passed outward through 9 and in the frontguard B, passing over the outside edges of the guards A and B, theninwardly through the holes 1 and 2, and finally the opposite endspassing upward and outward through 2 and 1, thereby lacing and clampingthe upper portions of the two guards A and B. The same may be done withthe four lower eyelet-holes, 5, 6, 11, and 12, a little simpler andsomewhat cheaper in construction.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, isg 1. In combination with rearguard, A, having eyelet-holes l 2 3 4,'arrranged as described, and frontguard, B, having holes 9 and 10, corresponding to 1 and 2, thelacing-cord O, which is passed first through holes 9 10, then round theside edges of the guards, and then successively through holes 1, 2, 3,and t, substantially as set forth.

2. Lacing-cords O D, in combination with guard A, having eyelet-holes l2 3 4 5 6 7 8, and guard B, having eyelet-holes 9 10 11 12, allarrai'iged and combined substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whercot'l aliix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

C HAS. W. LORD.

Witnesses:

H. E. LODGE, F. G. SIMPSON.

